Main Avenue, Soledad now two-way streets

1of 8A car drives Wednesday, April 12, 2018 between new paint markings on Main street in downtown San Antonio. Main street and the parallel Soledad street in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

2of 8Workers put the finishing touches Wednesday, April 12, 2018 on a crosswalk at the intersection of Soledad and Martin in downtown San Antonio. Soledad and Main will be converting to two-way streets in the next few days.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

3of 8New paint markings on Soledad street near the San Antonio Public Library indicate Wednesday, April 12, 2018 the street's imminent conversion to a two-way street. Soledad and Main in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

4of 8New paint markings on Main street in downtown San Antonio indicate Wednesday, April 12, 2018 the street's imminent conversion to a two-way street. Soledad and Main in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

5of 8A temporary traffic sign on Main street in downtown San Antonio indicate Wednesday, April 12, 2018 the street's imminent conversion to a two-way street. Soledad and Main in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

6of 8New paint markings on Main street in downtown San Antonio indicate Wednesday, April 12, 2018 the street's imminent conversion to a two-way street. Soledad and Main in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

7of 8A car drives Wednesday, April 12, 2018 between new paint markings on Soledad street in downtown San Antonio. Soledad street and the parallel Main street in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

8of 8A car drives Wednesday, April 12, 2018 between new paint markings on Main street in downtown San Antonio. Main street and the parallel Soledad street in downtown are both being converted to two-way roads.Photo: William Luther, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Downtown commuters are experiencing something that hasn’t happened since at least the 1950s — Soledad Street and Main Avenue are carrying two-way traffic.

The weekend conversion from one-way to two-way streets has been years in the making. Funding for the $7 million project came from the 2012 bond. City work has included replacing century-old water, sewer and gas lines, improved pedestrian lighting, new traffic signals, landscaping and bike lanes on Main Avenue.

“It will help relieve traffic congestion near the nexus of downtown and the Five Points neighborhood. It will also improve pedestrian safety near Cast Tech,” said Councilman Roberto Treviño, whose District 1 encompasses the project. “We worked closely with stakeholders to be more thoughtful on a complete-street design that thinks about safety, comfort and mobility.”

The project will be further complemented by a downtown lighting plan that’s underway, he said.

“Inclusive of heat mitigation strategies and public art, my hope is that this project will serve as a good model to follow for more downtown projects,” Treviño said.

Last week, workers were continuing to put finishing touches on the project as traffic barricades eased cars through temporary lanes — vehicles heading north on Soledad and south on Main Avenue. Pedestrians dodged crumbled sidewalks and tiptoed across fresh tar.

But the strain felt by commuters, pedestrians, businesses and their customers is now dissipating.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley said the completion of the bond project is critical to the transformation underway in the northwest corner of downtown.

“This project is especially important,” she said, “because it is the first ‘complete street’ in the area, meaning it has dedicated space for cars, bikes and pedestrians.”

Among other things, the newly two-way streets are supposed to reduce traffic congestion, make it easier to find parking and patronize businesses in the area, several people said.

Frisbie too noted that complete streets will be better for pedestrians and bicyclists.

“In this case, two-way operations will improve traffic efficiency in the area and the streets are now better-suited for retail, restaurants and high-density residential land use, and will be more adaptable for future development,” he said.

Randy Smith, president of Weston Urban, said the project has been a long time coming and has major positive implications for that area of downtown.

“In general, we’ve decided that one-way pairs don’t really work with respect to today’s downtown,” he said. “I’m sure decades ago, before software allowed traffic signals to function as a system, they had their place. Not so in today’s downtown.”

One-way streets, by design, are intended to get traffic through an area, while two-way streets are for getting to places, and that’s what downtown San Antonio needs, he said.

Smith also said he expects the two-way streets to calm traffic.

“There’s no reason I should be able to comfortably drive 40 mph through our city’s core,” he said. “Especially with Cast Tech and ALA students beginning to proliferate as those programs increase enrollment. With the old configuration of Main and Soledad you could absolutely do that. The redesign is safer, better and far more pedestrian-friendly.”

The recast corridor will benefit retailers in the area, improving accessibility, Smith said. He predicted parking will be easier.

“It will be far easier to get to a lot or garage, and far easier to exit, with two-way streets,” he said. “Just as important, once you park, the real magic of downtown is how you can walk to everything.”

Josh Baugh has covered City Hall for the San Antonio Express-News since 2009. A native of the Alamo City, Baugh was hired as a suburban-cities reporter at his hometown newspaper in 2006. He began his newspaper career at the Denton Record-Chronicle while working on a master's degree in journalism at the University of North Texas and later covered Texas A&M University for The Eagle in College Station. He's covered various facets of government and politics ever since. Baugh has previously written about public housing, county government and transportation for the Express-News.